China Garden

Reviews 4

FR

Frederick C

On a Lazy Sunday afternoon at about 1PM, we decided to go to China Garden in Irvine for Dim Sum. There were only 2 of us and when we arrived the restaurant was full, but clearing out. There were several people waiting outside. However we only had to wait about 15 minutes. We were sat in the infamous "side room" and I recalled all the posts about how the side room was one of the worst places to be sat due to the fact that people feel that the carts dont go into this room as often as the other room. We did not find this to be true. As a matter of fact, the second we sat down, there was a cart there and the Dim Sum girl was already barking out what she had to offer. Carts continually came and so did the people with trays. So I didnt experience the lack of carts that many others have talked about. I am convinced that these girls are on some sort of commission system or if they dont sell enough they get tortured in the back. They always slam things around and yell out the selections like they are mad at you. They get pretty pushy at times. I am not Chinese and they seem to get annoyed that I can not understand what they are saying and have to point or ask them to show me what they are referring to. And if you dont take what they are offering, you always get "the look". Notice how this Dim Sum girl is all smiles. These behaviors are not unique to this place. I think its most Dim Sum establishments. The Taro Cake was pretty good. I think it could have been fried longer to develop a crispier, more carmalized skin. I liked the gooey texture of the inside with the chunks of taro. My mom makes this and I hate to say it, but its not as good as mom makes. But its still very good here. Somewhat bland, but in a good way. Drizzle with a little soy sauce and you are good to go. The Har Gow tasted good enough. I have never been to a Dim Sum restaurant where I did not like these. I suppose they could have been a little more delicate with a thinner skin, but they had a very mild, yet tasty flavor and when you bit into them, it seemed like they were full of filling. The Shu Mai were very meaty and dense and had a great peppery flavor to them. Nice size to them as well I enjoyed the tripe. Thin ribbons of tripe in a gingery sauce. The tripe was delicate, firm, and chewy. You need to eat this one rather quick because as it cools the sauce starts to thicken and gets kind of gloppy. But I really loved the flavor of this one. Very Clean and crisp. The pork riblets were tasty. Perfect saltiness to them and they had a nice anise flavor to them. Lots of meat on these and the meat was very tender and came off the bones easily. They had a dish here that I really havent seen before. The angry dim sum girl called it "Skweh". I would say "Squid?" and she would say "Skweh" again. So I assumed it was squid and luckily it was. However these pieces must be cut from a BIG squid. Big pieces of the top of the squid that comprised most of the dish. Then there were pieces of the tentacles, but very large pieces. So much so, you really couldnt tell they were tentacles. It was in a curry flavored sauce and I really enjoyed this. It wasnt tender, but it wasnt tough either. I would say it was "firm tender". . My favorite Dim Sum dish is chicken feet and China Garden has the best out there in my opinion. I love this dish so much, it deserves its own picture. Deep fried first and then steamed. Completely tender and falling off the bone with so many complex flavors going on. Anise, sweetness, spiciness, saltiness. Nice and chewy tendons. I could eat 3 orders of this stuff. Its like candy to me. They didnt have the yellow egg custard cups that I love. I guess its because we came so late. But everything you see pictured was $23.00 including tip and that served 2 people. In my opinion China Garden does Dim Sum pretty well. And thats from sitting in the "side room" as well.

JA

Jason Lum

Meh! 2.5 Stars. I dont know what happened to China Garden. If I were to rate this place about 3 years it may have been a 4 or 5 star experience. What happened? Maybe I just discovered a lot of other Chinese restaurants in the area or they changed cooks. My favorite dishes use to be Honey Walnut Shrimp, French beef steak, and Fried Calamari. The Shrimp is no longer sweet and tasty, instead it is soggy and oily yuck! The beef is a bit rubbery and over cooked. The Fried Calamari is a bit chewy and lacks flavor you must add hot sauce to make it decent. The rice is always old and you will always wait for service no matter what time or number of people. For Dim Sum, you may want to try Royal Kitchen in Irvine instead. The only possible reason you would go here is if you havent had Chinese for years and you go after 10 pm, because some items are 50% off. Is it really worth it to pay less for less quality? Maybe if you are from the IE and have limited choices. I really miss SF food. Maybe Rowland Heights or Alhambra can be closer. For now, make the drive and dont throw money away. Please skip on China Garden unless you want to fight for parking with students going to Yogurt land.

KI

Kiu Lee

You have other options in Irvine, dont go there. Food is not comparable to the restaurants in LA for the same kind, for rank of 1-10, their food is just 3-4 at the most. Worst of all, their service is unbelievable bad bad bad. So they have this promotion, buy 5 dishes of dim sums, and get one of their favorite dish at a discounted price. About a year ago, me and my wife went in there and order 5 dim sums and the special discounted dish. While we are eating, the waiters are collecting the empty dishes at the same time (dim sum restaurant style), and at the end when we see the bill, they said we only order 4 dim sums, and we are not getting the special dish at discounted price. The funny thing is, the supervisor said, "The plates are gone, how can you prove you order 5?", I was so shocked he said that, I shouted back at him, the entire restaurant can hear it, and he still try to argue with us. so ridiculous. never go there again.

DE

Dedd Un

Recommended by a friend for Dim Sum, but arrived few minutes too late (I guess, Dim Sum is only till 230), still sat down to have something to eat - were taken to a corner table away from a large party at one side of the restaurant.. Very "sparse" - China like (and I have been several restaurants in China on business trips) decor.. We immediately noticed spider webs hanging from the ceiling and in general very dirty surroundings (except the table cloth was quite clean) - almost walked out - but while we got Tea, I decided we should give the food a try... . The service was rather poor, we waited for someone almost 10 minutes - after the Tea kettle. the food was OK, but in my opinion too expensive. Then we had the most unclean restroom experience in long time! Door has not been cleaned probably for years - down right filthy, and aside of semi-clean "bowl" everything else needed scrubbing. We will never come again....